Maple Creemee Shakedown
Four Quarters Brewing Co.

we had to try this when we saw it, leave it to vermont to put maple in literally everything, even a hazy ipa! lactose and vanilla in this sweetening it up, milkshake style, maple syrup too obviously, and hallertau blanc hops, a really unique choice for this and i think a clever one, although im not sure i would have leaned into the fruitiness of that with the sweet, but it works super well. i get both lactose and vanilla in front of hops or maple syrup in the nose of this, its quite subtle really, on tap but maybe not amazingly fresh, white grape to the hops, really organic character to the grain and the maple together which rules, and a pretty clean ferment it seems. its hazy and is tinted just toward amber but still quite light in the glass. it has a soft creamy head that looks almost nitro, and the carbonation is great with this so it never gets too heavy even though it is in fact pretty sweet. i could do without the lactose, its sweet enough anyway, and to me the maple ends up kind of subtle, lost a little to it and the vanilla. the hops have some bitterness i didnt expect for both the varietal and the style, but it ends up being necessary because of the sweetness. the maple is all at the end, and its cool with the hops, herbal and even faintly tangy, green but not in that burning overdosed way, in a bright and alive kind of way. maple and vanilla are great together even of the latter obscures the former some. cool beer, maybe trying to do a few too many things with these flavors and it also still trying to be an ipa, but its not overdone, its mellow in a lot of ways, and i dug it. vermont beer is on fire right now, totally has my interest!

 

 

A: Pours a golden yellow color with 2 fingers of head that fades down to a thin cap

S: Vanilla, lactose, maple, light fruity hops, and a touch of citrus

T: Follows the nose. Starts off with the fruity and citrusy hops. Slowly goes into the vanilla, lactose, and maple. Some bitterness shows up to counteract the sweetness. Finishes with lingering fruitiness and maple

M: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation

O: Certainly a very interesting milkshake IPA that features the Hallertau Blanc hops on top of the lactose, vanilla, and maple syrup. I feel like the beer almost has two separate halves. The first being the IPA part and the second being almost a white stout featuring the vanilla and maple. It is somehow decently balanced with the bitterness and sweetness working well together. Conceptually, it miraculously works. Just not sure I’d buy more than a 4-pack

Poured into a 16 oz tulip glass, not sure when it was canned. Pours a fairly clear dark yellow with a finger white head that leaves some thin lines of lace with pretty solid retention. 3.75

Smell maple, vanilla, yellow grapes, and caramel. 3.5

Taste follows yellow grape, maple, vanilla, and caramel. 3.75

Mouthfeel is almost medium, not really dry, plenty of life, and at 7% it goes down rather easy, but still a rather odd duck. 3.75

Overall I got this from a friend and glad I only got one and I don’t hate it, but very very confused by it. 3.75

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have only ever had one other experience with the "Shakedown" series 4Q does, which seems to be some type of "hazy milkshake IPA" thing with variants ranging from single fruits to entire odd ideas just thrown together for the purpose of making dessert-ish hoppy beers. This one seems to be one of the latter, in which the brewery tackles a local Vermont favorite, which is essentially akin to a maple soft-serve ice cream treat.

The pour is pretty hazy and golden with an orange hue to it when held to light. A solid head is present, which eventually sinks down to a finger-and-a-half, leaving behind some nice lace and legs. Honestly, this looks pretty good. I hate on milkshake-ish IPAs now and again, but this doesn't seem to be too bad right off the bat.

My first few sniffs of this lead me to believe this is reaaaally off, because it has some "adjunct lager"-ness to it, I guess, but letting it warm a bit brings out the Vermont charm. A ton of very authentic maple (duh) and superb balance of lactose/vanilla with the surprisingly-relevant Hallertau Blanc addition (giving off notes of pineapple and light herbal density) makes this kind of charming in a way I did not expect. I basically bought a can of this out of curiosity, but it's somewhat winning me over. I can only hope that its charms continue onto the palate.

Okay, this just straight-up isn't an IPA. It's not structured/built like one, and it's far too sweet to really be one, even with the decent hop presence. I hate to think of this as a "cream ale" because I understand the origin of that style's nomenclature, but, ya know... it honestly feels more like what I think of when I hear that term vs. what it actually means, so... hmm. I get a big sweet hit of maple right up front, honestly, with a mid-palate structured like an odd stout (sans roast). Is this a "white stout"? Goddamn, this beer is making me confused. The sweetness toward the finish is overpowering but also exactly what I expected. Yeah... vanilla, lactose, AND maple? It's like they're trying to give me diabetes. I could do with slightly more hops, maybe throw some Mosaic in toward the end of the boil... it works for Decadent like 60-70% of the time... why not? Fun stuff, honestly. But I could in no way drink more than one of these. It's so calorie dense that I feel it in my gut. I bet a real Maple Creemee(eee) is like this, too, though.